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Beware of ebay sellers with Intentional Bad PHotos
Cougar1978
Posts: 7,644 ✭✭✭✭✭
This kind of issue may have been mentioned in here before but wanted share this incident. A friend in my coin club relayed this to me:
He purchased an MS64 5c piece (under $50, TPG graded) which the photos were smaller than usual and no enlargement feature. The coin had a bad contact mark on reverse (looked like scratch / dig). He did not really notice this while bidding as it was difficult to see. In addition the seller did not ship it to his PO Box as instructed by ebay. Instead it was sent by a private carrier, left on the porch and picked up by his wife creating an awkward situation. Why in the world would a seller not use USPS? Aren't the privey carriers more expensive anyhow. Its a wonder they were able to get his street address. He thinks they just left it on his porch - what if it was stolen.
Other intentional bad photos can be fuzzy, poor lighting, and instances where the coin is upside down.
Would this just hack you off? I would be livid the seller did not send it to my PO box as instructed.
He purchased an MS64 5c piece (under $50, TPG graded) which the photos were smaller than usual and no enlargement feature. The coin had a bad contact mark on reverse (looked like scratch / dig). He did not really notice this while bidding as it was difficult to see. In addition the seller did not ship it to his PO Box as instructed by ebay. Instead it was sent by a private carrier, left on the porch and picked up by his wife creating an awkward situation. Why in the world would a seller not use USPS? Aren't the privey carriers more expensive anyhow. Its a wonder they were able to get his street address. He thinks they just left it on his porch - what if it was stolen.
Other intentional bad photos can be fuzzy, poor lighting, and instances where the coin is upside down.
Would this just hack you off? I would be livid the seller did not send it to my PO box as instructed.
So Cali Area - Coins & Currency
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This kind of issue may have been mentioned in here before but wanted share this incident. A friend in my coin club relayed this to me:
He purchased an MS64 5c piece (under $50, TPG graded) which the photos were smaller than usual and no enlargement feature. The coin had a bad contact mark on reverse (looked like scratch / dig). He did not really notice this while bidding as it was difficult to see. In addition the seller did not ship it to his PO Box as instructed by ebay. Instead it was sent by a private carrier, left on the porch and picked up by his wife creating an awkward situation. Why in the world would a seller not use USPS? Aren't the privey carriers more expensive anyhow. Its a wonder they were able to get his street address. He thinks they just left it on his porch - what if it was stolen.
Other intentional bad photos can be fuzzy, poor lighting, and instances where the coin is upside down.
Would this just hack you off? I would be livid the seller did not send it to my PO box as instructed.
He may have been more livid that wifey found out he was blowing the rent money on coins ! ! !
HH
1947-P & D; 1948-D; 1949-P & S; 1950-D & S; and 1952-S.
Any help locating any of these OBW rolls would be gratefully appreciated!
As far as the bad photo who knows if it was intentional or just the best they can do?
2 sides to every transaction , show a link to the item and let the masses comment.
OR, one handy tip I use is to not buy coins from crappy images.
Ditto. If the photo sucks, the seller probably has something to hide. You should also be concerned if the photo is turned 90 or 180 degrees. That's one of the ways counterfeiters disorient the observer so that you will be less likely to note that there something wrong with piece.
One tell tale sign are photos excessively bright or dark in an effort to hide either spots or some lengthy scratch.
I pass on bad photo's....most of my purchases are either sight seen or from trusted forum members... I have always been very satisfied with purchases from forum members.... I used to buy off ebay in the old days when it was a lot safer... still buy the occasional piece, but only with really good pictures. Cheers, RickO
I'll address the address part. Evidently Paypal is adding home addresses when only a PO Box is supplied. I never gave Paypal my home address and it is now listed on my account. If your default address is a PO Box and the seller doesn't ship to a PO Box, upon checkout you should have to change the address before you can pay for the item.A box opens with the addresses Payal has for your account. I have had this happen a few times. It is highly possible Paypal defaulted to the home address if the seller didn't ship to a PO Box. It hasn't happened to me like that but I wouldn't be surprised if it could happen.
I wouldn't take a chance on an expensive coin with bad images, unless I could verify it by other means.
Yes, I'd be hacked off about the address and the way it was shipped, as well.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
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I think your friend is reading into things too much. How could the seller get his home addressed if it was not listed? I know I have accidentally chosen my home address instead of my PO Box as my ship to address before. He probably did something like that. And sometimes people just have terrible pictures. It was your friends fault for buying a coin with crappy pictures.
And an edit to add: The buyer might ASK you to ship to a PO Box, but if his home address is the approved address for that transaction, he has to ship there. I have had people ask me to ship to a different address, and I have to politely refuse.
It's to the buyer's advantage that my pictures suck, not mine
I've been on both sides of this issue. I've received very nice items, and I've received a couple that looked even worse than the fuzzy picture. There are a lot of people out there that can't take a good closeup picture. It's really not worth the time to take a fuzzy picture and try to pass it off, it would probably just result in a return.
My worst case was with an old fatty NGC MS65 RD 1918 Lincoln. The seller was touting the coin as wonderful. Which it appeared to be based on excellent obv photo and 3/4 of a reverse photo. Except that one portion of the reverse photo was shaded out. I thought it was probably due to bad photography. You can guess what was in that area when I won the coin. A big PHAT carbon spot. Yuk! That cost me a 20% hit. When the seller refused a return I negged them. Of course, I got the retaliatory neg as well. My contribution to Ebay public service.
I will pass on sellers with no return policy and photos where coin is upside down (almost always some problem they are hiding).
Guy in coin club showed me coin he got from ebay seller where it even had threatening note about properly returning the safety mailer the slab coin came in or no refund. The seller has photos where reverse is upside down and a no return policy. I looked at his stuff almost every one a problem coin in some way. If they have a no return policy isn't it obvious one should avoid? I think so.
Buying requires due diligence. Return policies are there for buyer's protection. Caveat Emptor.
I have had some of my better eBay scores on coins with bad/dark pics/crappy scans that turned out to be VERY nice.
i would bet very way of a seller that did not offer returns. but bad pics may be the result of the seller not being able to take
good photos. ever see a picture where the seller laid the coin on the floor and then took a shot and what he got was a picture that should the coin four feet away. no detail, just a little circle. but they do that once in a while.
a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"
Yes those guys make me wonder...
I had a recent ebay experience on a best offer. The photos were poor but it was clear the coin had gorgeous album toning. However, I suspected the coin had some trouble spots. And there were "no returns".
I did a BO at 75% of the BIN and seller countered to 87%, which would have been a pretty good price if the coin's surfaces were nice.
So I countered at 80% but with the condition he accept a return. I explained I'm not in the habit of doing returns but I needed some protection because the photos were marginal.
We went back and forth several times, all quite politely. But he never tried to persuade me there were no issues and refused to allow a return. He "needed the money for the kids' holiday".
I finally declined and ended it. Too many red flags.
Better photos might have made the matter black & white. I agree with the OP that sometimes images are intentionally poor.
Lance.
I take chances with bad pictures. Always make sure a return can be made. Some turn out very nice like the one shown. The coin I believe will go 66FB when I get around to sending it in. 50 buck coin.
Sometimes you just gotta roll them bones.......